Chennai : Chennai-based water engineering and infrastructure major VA Tech Wabag has started calendar 2019 on a strong note, announcing that it has secured an order worth Rs 467 crore from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL).

The project is one of the largest desalination orders that VA Tech Wabag has bagged in the domestic market in the industrial sector in recent times.

The order has been bagged towards engineering and construction of a 30 million lite per day (MLD) seawater desalination plant, which can be expandable up to 70 MLD in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

The scope of the design and build contract includes engineering, supply, erection, construction and commissioning of the 30 MLD sea water desalination plant over a period of 22 months.

The company said it will build the plant using state-of-the-art technologies, including seawater reverse osmosis, brackish water reverse osmosis and ultra-filtration systems.

The project also includes cross-country piping of 11 km to deliver the water to MRPL's refinery. The plant aims to minimize fresh water dependency of MRPL, once it gets completed.

Post successful commissioning, VA Tech Wabag will also be awarded a contract towards operation and maintenance of the plant for 10 years.

Water is one of the world’s gravest risks, according to the Global Risks Report published earlier this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. And the situation is actually worse than it might seem at first glance.